I want to be able to use the USB ports and BlueTooth to connect to sensors. I want to be able to conduct science experiments where I use the Edge to capture information such as temperature, speed, etc. While the experiment is going on I want the Textbook I am using on the E-Ink side for reference.I also want to be working with the DocsToGo side on the LCD side for the lab paper, spreadsheets, etc.

Why would you want to do this all on a single tablet device? It seems it would be much easier to dedicate one cheap netbook for data acquisition, and the tablet for references. It's often better to have dedicated specialized devices than one all-in-one device. (For example, I'm about to get back to work here in my home office and I'll be using 3 computers; writing a paper on one while reading the handwritten memos I made on my previous version of the paper on my tablet PC. The 3rd computer is mainly for playing music.

Why would you want to do this all on a single tablet device? It seems it would be much easier to dedicate one cheap netbook for data acquisition, and the tablet for references. It's often better to have dedicated specialized devices than one all-in-one device. (For example, I'm about to get back to work here in my home office and I'll be using 3 computers; writing a paper on one while reading the handwritten memos I made on my previous version of the paper on my tablet PC. The 3rd computer is mainly for playing music.

Because as a student ( I used to be one 20 years ago...) I only have so much money. I also only want to carry around a few things, such as my cell phone, my mp3 player, my books, and working materials. The vision as I see it is to give the student something that he will easily adopt into his bag. Even though seperate devices might do a better job, it is often not that ergonomic when it comes to lugging it around campus.

In my work scenario, I minimize the number of things that I take to meetings. Now I agree with you that for my own private Science room, I definately want as much power in devices as possible. Now that goes the other way when I have to lug it out as if I want to automate a portable telescope in the field.

It all depends on what you plan to do. As a teacher, I could see having 20 Edges which I fold up into a lab cart. When I do a lab, it has the reference material on it. It has the ports available for any data acquisition devices that I need to use for the lab. It has wifi access to all of the supplemental material the teacher wants to make available say via a lab server. It has an operating system with a simple but robust programming paradigm available for buying software or making programming which round out the tools.

As a teacher, I wouldn't need to use it but I could minimize when I want to. I can take the Edge into my dedicated lab and just use it for the dedicate reference materials with other computers for the heavy lifting, but I am not only limited to that task.

I agree with Paul. Even though dedicated devices are almost always better (think digital camera and camcorder). Even though digital camera also records video and camcorder also takes pictures, each device is best at its own task it was specifically designed for. I own a $5,000 laptop that I use for heavy programming. This laptop is heavy and difficult to carry around. If I can offload some tasks to the eDGe, for example, and only carry the eDGe, that would be great. Of course, the eDGe would not compete performance wise but as long as it is functional and usable that's what I would care about.

You are correct that dedicated devices are always better but if I have a device that can do a lot of things, why not take it to its limits and see how far it will go?

I have a quick question or two. The edge is supposed to read pdf files. Does this mean that they are regular pdf files or special files for Adobe Adept? I am unfamiliar with Adept and worry that the pdf files I downloaded from Google books may not work on the Edge if it ahs Adept on it.

The edge is supposed to read pdf files. Does this mean that they are regular pdf files or special files for Adobe Adept?

Adobe Digital Editions reads all PDF/A files and supports some extensions beyond that (restrictive) subset of PDF. It does not support passworded PDFs. I'm not sure if it supports Google Books PDFs, which contain highly compressed images.

One way to check would be to try the Sony eBook Library viewer (Mac or PC) which uses mobile Adobe Digital Editions to display PDFs, just like the eDge.

Adobe Digital Editions reads all PDF/A files and supports some extensions beyond that (restrictive) subset of PDF. It does not support passworded PDFs. I'm not sure if it supports Google Books PDFs, which contain highly compressed images.

One way to check would be to try the Sony eBook Library viewer (Mac or PC) which uses mobile Adobe Digital Editions to display PDFs, just like the eDge.